ARTS: YORK – PHOTOS BY ILLUSTRATOR, JENNY MORTSELL

Illustrator, artist and photographer, Jenny Mörtsell lives in New York. Originally born in Sweden, Jenny moved to Brooklyn in 2008 and has since created an impressive cache of clients that includes, The New York Times Magazine, NYLON, Elle, Bon and Lula. Her advertising clients include Urban Outfitters, Whyred, Diesel, Phillip Lim, Topshop and Taken By Trees.

One of the most respected and reknown fashion illustrators of the moment, her talent was apparent even as a child, “[I was drawing] the second I grabbed a Crayola,” she says in an interview for The Ground magazine.

Her signature pencil drawings are poignant, intricate and evocative, just as is Jenny’s most recent project, YORK; a 700 page photographic exploration into the personal and emotional lives of her NY-based subjects. Captured by 6 analogue cameras, Jenny Mörtsell draws you into the deepest and darkest places of these New Yorker’s lives – offering a glimpse into the good, the bad and the in-between.

The foreword to the book beautifully encapsulates its intention: “… all these unknown people meet my gaze and it makes me wonder. They laugh, smile, drink, sleep. All of them, going somewhere. Some look more certain to succeed than others. Most of them still in a state of limbo, in between dreams and fulfillment. In between inner wealth and outer. Most of them with a plan, others not. They got a ticket. To ride. Everyone is still at the party. No one is home. Free. Yet. Soon. My turn. Today, tonight or tomorrow. Jenny’s images make a circular movement, both on a larger and a smaller scale. The visual nodes curtains-food packaging-beer mug-cat-turn table-asphalt. In the gap in between you can just barely make out her day. Her life. At the end of the party there is always the rent.

Take a sneak peek at the beautiful photo book here:

You can purchase the book online through Swedish publishing company, Nill Editions.